Japan plans to send its Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry to China—will Sino-Japanese relations soon thaw?

Will Sino-Japanese relations thaw? Japan to send minister of economy and industry to China! On April 25, according to Japanese media reports, Japan plans to dispatch its Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Akizawa Ryōsei, to attend an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting scheduled to be held in Suzhou, China, next month. Akizawa Ryōsei will become the first Japanese minister to visit China since diplomatic tensions between China and Japan plunged following the "Taiwan incident" remarks.

The Japanese media noted that the Japan Business Federation is planning a visit to China in May, while the Japan-China Economic Association also intends to conduct field inspections of enterprises in Shanghai and other locations. Additionally, a delegation from the Japan Association for International Trade Promotion is set to visit Beijing in June; its president is former House of Representatives Speaker Hatoyama Yukio. Clearly, these series of actions by Japan appear to signal a thaw in Sino-Japanese relations. Japan seems to be attempting to repair bilateral ties—particularly economic relations.

However, to be honest, rather than indicating genuine restoration or thawing of Sino-Japanese relations, this appears more like a strategic probe. In fact, from our perspective, Minister Akizawa’s visit to China is not a formal invitation but merely routine attendance as a member state delegate. Likewise, neither the Japan-China Economic Association’s visit nor the Japan Association for International Trade Promotion’s delegation has received our explicit confirmation.

Thus, while Japan seeks to stabilize economic and trade relations with China, under the backdrop of rapidly deteriorating political relations, such diplomatic gestures are unlikely to trigger a broader improvement in overall ties. On one hand, Japan continues to provoke on security and diplomatic fronts; on the other, it attempts to isolate economic cooperation, hoping to maintain deep engagement with the Chinese market and reap economic benefits—essentially pursuing a "separation of politics and economics" strategy. Yet this approach is fundamentally unrealistic, and Japan will continue to bear the consequences of worsening Sino-Japanese relations.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1863408065354763/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.